Roronoa Zoro is a member of the Straw Hat Pirates. For the first time he was mentioned by Alvida. He is also called the Pirate Hunter (jap. 海賊狩り, Kaizoku gari), but the name is not very appropriate. He is the first crew member that Luffy was able to win over for his team on his journey. He has a dream to become the best swordsman in the world.
On their first visit to the Sabaody Archipelago, Zoro, together with Luffy, is one of the eleven Supernovae, promising rookies with a bounty of over 100 million. Two years later, the two belong to the Worst Generation, who have made a name for themselves through their sensational deeds. Due to their extraordinary strength and loyalty to Luffy, Zoro and Sanji will also be known as the Wings of the pirate king (jap. 海賊王の両翼 , Kaizokuou no Ryouyoku) denotes.
Contents
Appearance
Zoro is 21 years old after the time jump and 1.81 meters tall. He is very muscular and has striking, short green hair, which is why Sanji often calls him “spinach head”, or in the original Marimo, is called. He usually wears a green belly wrap, a so-called haramaki. On the right side of this haramaki he has attached his three swords, which he always carries with him. Around his left upper arm he always has a black bandana tied, which he only ties around his head when he has a particularly hard fight ahead of him. On his left ear, Zoro also wears three golden earrings. His standard attire consists of a white, tight-fitting polo shirt and black pants, as well as black, heavy boots. When he is not wearing his white t-shirt, he quite likes to wear shirts. For example, he wore a blue Hawaiian shirt on Conomi, a yellow one on Enies Lobby, and a white shirt with red vertical stripes on Sabaody Archipelago. He always wears his shirts open, revealing his muscular upper body. He also often wears sleeveless shirts, such as on Skypiea.
Zoro also has several scars. His largest scar is across his torso. It comes from the fight against Hawkeye. The scar caused Zoro a lot of problems and even opened up again in the fight against Hatchan. On his legs he has two more scars, which he inflicted on himself when he tried to cut off his feet to escape Mister 3’s XXL candelabra.
Personality
Zoro is determined to achieve his goal of becoming the best swordsman in the world. For this he has decided never to give up a fight, even if it costs his life. Many consider him crazy, because he faces every danger to get closer to his goal. Even in the eye of death, Zoro still laughs and rejoices when he faces an equal opponent. When he senses a serious fight, he ties his black bandana around his head. Zoro is a very calm and serious person. However, he can also lose his temper in certain situations. He is very brave, strong-willed and adventurous. He is completely loyal to his captain and has the utmost trust in him. But he also enjoys great trust on the part of Luffy. Mostly he stands up for the rest of the gang to do what Luffy says. Zoro, like Luffy, is a dreamer. But unlike other pirates, such as Eustass Kid, the two do not fight people who laugh at their dreams. Thus, in Jaya, the two have let Bellamy and his gang beat them up without fighting back.
Zoro often argues with Sanji over trivial little things and show fights occur over who is the better, even in often inappropriate situations. They also often tease each other with sayings to annoy the other. But behind the facade, the two brawlers also appreciate each other as friends and trust each other’s abilities, however, both would never admit this.
Zoro’s strength is always marveled at by Usopp, Chopper and Brook, who are in awe of it. His relationship with Chopper also seems to be a special one. Thus, in dangerous situations, the reindeer always runs to the swordsman to seek security. But also, Zoro is the first to jump into the water when Chopper falls in.
Once Chopper has a sentimental outburst, Zoro is very strict and reminds him of the pirate life, from which the reindeer draws new strength. He also has a deep relationship of trust with Brook, which surely stems from the fact that they are both swordsmen. The swordsman is a very strong authority figure and often has to remind his friends of certain guidelines at certain moments, which put the right action ahead of sentimental wrong decisions (for example, when Usopp decided to leave the Straw Hat Pirates).
Also, Zoro exudes great authority and strength with enemies, who often retreat in fear just by looking at him. Zoro is sometimes, when he sees no other option, ready to use very brutal methods. Thus, he wanted to cut off his own legs to escape Mister 3’s XXL candelabra and, in Enie’s lobby, saw no other way to free himself from Usopp, who was chained to him, than to cut off his hand or himself. But both times other options came into consideration in time. He lives by the honorable rules of Bushido. Thus, Zoro does not tolerate underhanded maneuvers in battle. Also, he does not demand great possessions (except for his swords) and is satisfied with trifles. Due to his simple and direct nature, he is often taken advantage of by the cunning Nami, especially in financial matters.
The swordsman usually spends his time aboard the Thousand Sunny training hard. While doing so, he stays in the crow’s nest and can thus also take on the role of lookout. When not training, Zoro spends much of his time sleeping. He is seldom disturbed and does not disturb himself when a snowstorm is raging. Usually, however, he is then awakened by Nami or Sanji in a rude manner. He is also used on board for tasks that require great physical strength, such as hauling in the anchor.
Zoro, like Luffy, has absolutely no sense of direction. He has the talent to quickly make a lot of enemies in new places, who can’t cope with his kind. Therefore, he often gets the gang into trouble, which he is usually able to solve on his own. He is also a person who likes to be alone and often goes off on his own to explore an island or the like, instead of being in the group. Pirate Hunter Zoro also seems to be the most unsentimental member of the gang and always remains serious in such situations and keeps a cool head. The other members are often bothered by how tough Zoro can be at times. On the other hand, the safety and well-being of his crew members is more important to him than his own, much like it is with Luffy. For example, when the Straw Hats had to flee from the PX-1 on the Sabaody Archipelago, he ordered Usopp, who was carrying the injured Zoro, to leave him behind because he would only hinder him in his escape. Zoro is also a very good observer, who quickly sees through cunning situations. He distrusts certain people in mysterious situations first. He, like Nami, can tolerate vast amounts of alcohol without showing even the slightest mental changes. In addition, Zoro, together with Nico Robin, unlike the rest of the Straw Hats, is always ready to kill the opponent.
Skills and strength
Together with Luffy and Sanji, Zoro is one of the strongest members of the Straw Hat Pirates and forms the attack command of the crew. Because of his strength, he has often been mistaken for the captain of the gang, such as the bounty hunters in Whisky Peak and the Franky Family. Zoro initially made a name for himself as a bounty hunter and then became part of the Straw Hat Pirates, which quickly gained a notorious reputation. He received his first bounty, amounting to 60,000,000 berries, for defeating 100 bounty hunters in Whisky Peak by himself and also beating the highest-ranking agent of the Baroque Company, Jazz Bonez.
After Zoro’s victory against the CP-9 agent Ecki and also after his victory against Pica, the World Government doubled his bounty each time, which is why after Dress Rosa there is a current bounty of 320 million on his head. Zoro is a master of the three-sword style, the Santōryū.
However, he is also masterful with one or two swords. The swordsman is able to cut stones with his swords and even iron since the fight against Jazz Bonez. He can make a sword cut so fast that the cut will additionally catch fire and burn the opponent, as in the fight against Samurai Ryuma. Zoro is in possession of three great swords.
His most important sword is the Wado-Ichi-Monji (和道一文字, translated as “The One Way of Harmony”), one of the 21 royal swords that once belonged to Kuina. Then he also possesses the 3rd Generation Kitetsu (三代鬼徹, translated: “Third Generation Demon Splitter”), a cursed skill sword that brought death to all its previous owners. For a long time, his third sword was the Shuusui (秋水, translated: “pure autumn water”), which is also a royal sword and used to belong to Ryuma, but it passed into the pirate’s possession after Zoro’s victory over the zombie.
On Wano Country, he exchanged the Shuusui for Enma (閻魔, Enma is the king of the underworld), the former sword of Oden. According to Hitetsu, Zoro could still increase the rank of the king’s sword if he permanently blackened the blade. Before the Shuusui, the master sword Yubashili was Zoro’s third sword, but it was destroyed by Shuu.
The pirate hunter has also developed techniques with which he can now act in ranged combat – the sense phoenixes. In doing so, he cuts the air with his sword, which hurts the opponent. Zoro has developed a technique where he blows air out of his body. This seems to gather power in his upper arm muscles, which reach a much higher girth. He can use his three-sword style with gorilla arms as a result.
Asura is another technique of Zoro. It is actually not a direct attack, but a spiritual technique that allows him to reach a higher “level”. Through his will/aura he creates two illusionary images of himself, so that he now has 6 arms, 3 heads and 9 swords. The swordsman also has considerable skills in fighting without swords, the so-called Mutouryū. Thus, he performed the attack Dragon Tornado during the knockout wrestling match, because he was forbidden to carry his weapons.
Zoro is incredibly fast. Thus, he can effortlessly dodge pistol bullets, hold his own against the CP9’s Shave ability, and move through rotating sword vortices, which are impossible for the naked eye to detect, without so much as a scratch. When he inflicts an injury on an opponent, the opponent often doesn’t notice it until several seconds after it has already happened.
In addition, he also has tremendous jumping power and also possesses superhuman physical strength. Thus, it is easy for him to tear a huge stone house from its moorings and throw it at the opponent. Zoro’s stamina is insanely great, as is his superhuman survival instinct, which allows him to survive any injury, no matter how severe. Examples include being injured by Mihawk or absorbing Luffy’s concentrated pain at the hands of Bartholomew Kuma.
The swordsman’s fights are usually by far the bloodiest in One Piece, and he loses a lot of blood accordingly. So he lost in the fight against Buggy one liter, against Siam and Flecki 1.5 liters, against Mihawk 3 liters and against Arlong even 5 liters. Since this is almost the complete amount of blood of an average-sized human, Zoro’s blood regeneration must be correspondingly high. Another peculiarity related to the large blood loss is that no matter how badly injured he is, he simply needs to sleep to recover from the injuries. And if an injury does need to be attended to, he simply does it himself. The result of this negligence is two huge scars.
His greatest weakness is his non-existent sense of direction (quote from the manga). He gets lost even in the smallest places, which is why Luffy often makes fun of him, although he is no better in this respect (note: this trait is often given to very strong characters, who at first seem to have almost no weaknesses, just to prove the opposite).Pirate Hunter Zoro is one of the few characters who do not have to hide in terms of strength, even without Devil Fruit. Through tireless hard training and tremendous discipline, he wants to realize his dream of becoming the best swordsman in the world.
As a result of training with Hawkeye, Zoro has finally developed such a presence that even rookies like Caribou feel fear of him. Furthermore, Zoro is able to use Haki. The most pronounced of these is his armor haki. This allows him to harden his swords, giving them more penetrating power and protecting them from damage of any kind. They turn black, as does Luffy’s fist, which is reinforced with haki. In this way, he can turn any blade into a “black sword” like the Yoru of Hawkeye.
Past
Shimotsuki village
Zoro grew up in the village of Shimotsuki in the East Blue. He attended the local kendo school under the guidance of Koushirou.This information comes from an anime filler.
Initially, however, his goal was quite different. He wanted to make a name for himself as Dojoyaburi (jap. 道場破り (someone who goes to a dojo and defeats all its members). Zoro, who was already very strong as a child, had, according to his own statements, never lost a fight and had already visited many dojos in the area and defeated all the members.
Koushirou accepted Zoro’s challenge and had him compete against the strongest member of the dojo, his daughter Kuina. The girl easily defeated Zoro, and this despite the fact that the latter fought with two swords and Kuina with only one. Kuina called Zoro a failure for whom it was still ten years too early to learn the two-sword fighting style. Zoro now had to start as a student in the dojo, as previously agreed with Koushirou. He trained harder and harder until he was the strongest male fighter in the dojo. In the meantime he mastered the two sword fighting style and defeated all adult members of the dojo. Only against Kuina he had no chance. In a total of 2000 encounters Kuina always remained undefeated. During this time he has undergone a strong character development. Thus, he has become much calmer and no longer upset about his defeats, as Kuina once said that a dog that still barks after a lost fight only seems more ridiculous.
After the 2000th defeat against Kuina, Zoro decided to end it all in one last fight with real swords. Until then, the two had always fought with wooden training swords, so-called Shinai (jap. 竹刀, engl. bamboo sword). Zoro made all the preparations for the fight, but Kuina happened to overhear her father talking to a friend about Kuina and Zoro. In this conversation, Koushirou said that although Zoro was even weaker, Kuina had a purely biological disadvantage.
Men by nature have more strength and even if Zoro could not win against Kuina now, then this would probably be different after the puberty of the two. It was also learned that Kuina had the same dream as Zoro, to become the strongest swordswoman in the world, but this was completely impossible according to her father. When she heard this, a world collapsed for her. She ran away from home, but met Zoro, who challenged her to a final duel.
Although the fight was more even than ever this time, Zoro once again got the short end of the stick, but Kuina spared him. Zoro then began to cry, saying that if he could not defeat her, he could not become the strongest swordsman. When Zoro said this, Kuina replied that she was the one who should be crying. After all, it was her dream that would never come true because she was female. Zoro explained that this was no excuse and that if she could even defeat him, she could not be so weak. The two then made a promise to each other that one day one of them would become the best swordsman in the world.
From this event, both drew new energy and trained harder than ever. At this point, Zoro made the decision to learn the 3-sword fighting style (Jap. Original: santōryū). But when he was at his evening training, three of his classmates suddenly came up to him and gave him a terrible news: Kuina is dead! She had fallen from a staircase. In a conversation with Koushirou, Zoro asked him to hand over Kuina’s Wado-Ichi-Monji and finally received it.
This information comes from One Piece Movie 5
Zoro also met Saga, a student of the same age, at the kendo school in Shimotsuki. Like Zoro, Saga was a very talented young swordsman with a big dream. Both became good friends and trained very hard together. They made a promise to each other: Zoro would become the best swordsman in the whole world and Saga would find the Sword of Justice. As proof of the promise, Zoro gave his friend Saga a small sword with Zoro’s name on it. After their training, the two swordsmen parted ways.
Eight years after Kuina’s death, Zoro had finished his training and left Koushirou’s dojo. Able to cut stones and a master of the three-sword fighting style, Zoro set out to realize his dream of becoming the best swordsman in the world.
Zoro the pirate hunter
In search of ever new challenges and hawk’s eye, Zoro traveled the East Blue. He made a name for himself as “Zoro the Pirate Hunter”, who fights with three swords. However, he never called himself a pirate hunter. He only pursued the bounty hunter activity in order to be able to finance his food and sword repairs.
At an unknown time, Zoro met the former Baroque agent Mr. 7, who wanted to recruit the pirate hunter for the Baroque Works. Zoro, however, made the condition that he would only join if he could be the boss of the Baroque Works, whereupon Mr. 7 attacked him. However, the agent had underestimated Zoro and was easily defeated by him.
This information comes from an anime filler.
Zoro showed up one day in a small town in a barren desert area. He went to a local blacksmith to have his Wado-Ichi-Monji overhauled. His other two katanas were beyond repair. With a borrowed sword from the blacksmith, he went in search of something to eat. He went to the pub “W-Brothers”, where Johnny and Yosaku were also sitting. They were after the bandit Billy, who was sitting in the pub with some cronies. When Zoro wanted to order something to eat, the innkeeper asked him if he had enough money to pay for his meal. He replied that he didn’t have any money, but that he would kill anyone in the pub who had a bounty on his head. Billy then charged at Zoro, who had no trouble defeating the bandit.
Johnny and Yosaku didn’t like the fact that Zoro had snatched the bounty from under their noses and talked to him about it. However, Zoro left the bounty to them, provided they paid his bill, and disappeared. He then went to the blacksmith to pick up his Wado-Ichi-Monji from a repair and returned the borrowed sword, which was also destroyed after the fight against Billy. Meanwhile, the city was attacked by Dick, a buddy of Billy and his gang of robbers.
Zoro went to the mill, which had just been looted by the gang, and there again encountered Johnny and Yosaku, who tried in vain to protect the villagers from Dick. Zoro came to their rescue, borrowed the swords of the two bounty hunters and defeated Dick’s gang with a monster strike without any problems. Now he was recognized by everyone as “Roronoa Zoro the Pirate Hunter.” With Harry’s support, he also defeated Dick without any trouble. Johnny and Yosaku were amazed by Zoro and wanted to join him to become as good. Zoro had no problem with that either, whereupon the two bounty hunters were insanely happy and called Zoro “Aniki” for the first time. This was the beginning of Zoro’s friendship with Johnny and Yosaku.
Zoro then roamed the East Blue with Johnny and Yosaku for quite some time. Later, however, the friends parted ways again.
This information comes from One Piece Movie 5
At an unknown time, Zoro met Pin Joker, whom he gave the scar on his face. However, this was only one of many insignificant opponents of Zoro, which is why Zoro quickly erased Pin Joker from his memory. Zoro met his old friend Saga again one day.
He had not seen him since the days in Shimotsuki. Together they fought against a gang of pirates on their ship. Saga got his right arm tangled in the anchor chain. Zoro wanted to come to Saga’s aid, but was sent away by the latter, who thought he could handle it himself. Zoro left the ship, which exploded shortly after.
Two weeks before the meeting with Luffy, Zoro arrived in Shells Town. He was having a meal at Rika’s mother Ririka’s bar when suddenly Helmeppo appeared in the bar with his wolf Solo. Rika wanted to chase away the wolf, which was frightening the guests. Zoro came to the girl’s rescue and beheaded the wolf. Helmeppo now threatened Zoro that he would have Rika and her mother punished if Zoro did not let himself be tied to a cross for 30 days, without food or drink. Zoro agreed. His swords were taken away from him and he was tied to a cross in the naval base of Shells Town.
Present
East Blue
Zoro was still being held at the naval base when Luffy arrived in Shells Town with Koby. Luffy learned about Zoro’s sacrifice from Rika and decided to take him into his gang. Zoro, who would rather be a pirate than be cheated and killed here by Helmeppo, accepted Luffy’s offer, provided he would bring him his swords. He liked the idea that he would be on a team with the pirate king as the best swordsman in the world. Provided he could continue to improve his skills as a swordsman, it was also okay for him to live the life of a pirate. The two new partners defeated Captain Morgan and left the island without Koby.
In search of a navigator, the road led the two to Orange. In Orange, they met and befriended the thief Nami. In Orange they also met Buggy’s pirate gang and a fight ensued. Zoro was injured by Buggy, which Zoro’s swords could not harm. In a weakened state, he now had to fight Cabaji, but he was able to defeat him. Luffy was able to defeat Buggy and together with Nami, who happens to be a navigator, they continued their journey.
While Luffy and Nami met Gaimon on the Lost Island, Zoro slept in their boat the whole time.They came to Gecko Island, where they met the boy Usopp and became friends with him. They came across an ambush of the Black Cat pirate gang and messed with them. In the process, Zoro had to fight the Nyaban Brothers. These proved to be serious opponents, as they managed to take two swords from Zoro. Zoro, however, was able to defeat both of them and eventually helped Usopp defeat Jango. After Luffy defeated Black, they were given the Going Merry by Miss Kaya, on which they continued their journey to the Grand Line, with Usopp as their new nakama. On their further journey, they met Johnny and Yosaku, Zoro’s old friends, who accompanied them. After the small gang met Sanji at the Baratié, Creek’s band of pirates attacked the restaurant. Nami snatched the Going Merry and escaped. Now Hawkeye, who had been chasing Krieg and his gang since the Grand Line, showed up. Zoro challenged the Samurai of the Seas to a fight. Zoro had no chance against the samurai and lost. Hawkeye let him live, however, as he saw a lot of potential in Zoro and told him to keep training hard until one day they would meet again. In that fight, Zoro’s two normal katanas were broken.
Zoro, along with Usopp and Johnny, went after Nami, badly injured. The latter had gone to Kokos, which was besieged by the Arlong gang. Zoro finished off most of the Fish Man’s crew in Arlong Park. When Luffy followed with Sanji and Yosaku, they all attacked Arlong Park together. In the process, Zoro had to face Hatchan, who was leading six swords. In the fight against Arlong, Zoro was struggling badly with his injuries from the fight against Hawkeye. The Straw Hat Pirates was able to defeat Arlong and his entourage and free Kokos. Nami finally rejoined the Straw Hat Pirates, but Johnny and Yosaku said goodbye to them here, as they wanted to continue their work as bounty hunters.
The last stop before the Grand Line was Loguetown. Here Zoro met the naval swordswoman Tashigi, who looks confusingly like Kuina. He also acquired two new swords from Tanne: the Yubashili and the 3rd generation Kitetsu. The gang met Buggy again, who joined forces with Alvida, as well as Smoker, whom they managed to escape with difficulty. They made their way to Reverse Mountain and crossed it to the Grand Line.
Grand Line
After meeting Crocus and the giant whale Laboon at Reverse Mountain, the gang, with Mr. 9 and Miss Wednesday on board, set off for Whisky Peak. There she was lured into an ambush by the Baroque Company, which only Zoro saw through. He had to fight 100 bounty hunters alone, including Mr. 9, Mister 8, Miss Monday, Miss Wednesday, Mr. Beans and Miss Catherina, and won. A misunderstanding also led to a fight against Luffy, which was interrupted by Nami. Miss Wednesday then revealed herself as Vivi, the princess of Arabasta.
Her country was threatened by the Baroque Company, led by Crocodile, aka Mr. 0, one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea. The gang decided to take Vivi, along with her race Karoo, to Arabasta to help her.
They arrived on the island of Little Garden, where they met the two giants Brogy and Dorry, who had been fighting with each other for 100 years. They also had to fight the Baroque agents Mister 3, Mister 5, Miss Goldenweek and Miss Valentine on the island.
Zoro was able to defeat Mister 5 in the process. Since Nami had caught a dangerous disease on Little Garden, they had to make a stop on the winter island of Drum in search of a doctor. On the island, there was a confrontation with the tyrannical King Wapol. In addition, the reindeer Chopper became a member of the gang, in which he took the post of ship’s doctor.
Arabasta
Arriving in Arabasta, they met Luffy’s brother Ace, who was hunting Blackbeard. Ace helped them escape from Smoker, who was hunting for the Straw Hat Pirates with Tashigi and his naval unit. Without Ace, the friends went on to Yuba to meet the rebel army, led by Koza, which was incited by Crocodile’s devious plan against King Cobra, Vivi’s father. However, the rebel army was no longer there and so the pirates moved on to Rainbase to fight Crocodile. After another clash with Smoker, most of the gang, including Zoro, were captured by Crocodile along with the navy captain.
However, Sanji and Chopper managed to free them. In the process, Zoro, on Luffy’s orders, even saved Smoker’s life, who let them go.The final battle against the Baroque Company took place in Arbana, the capital of Arabasta. In it, Zoro faced the strongest agent, Mister 1, who ate from the Iron Blade fruit.
The fight looked very bad for Zoro at the beginning, however, Zoro exceeded his limits and managed to cut iron. After Luffy defeated Crocodile, they said goodbye to Vivi and left Arabasta, with Nico Robin, aka Miss Bloody Sunday (former partner of Mister 0) on board, who wanted to join the crew since Luffy saved her. Luffy accepted Robin’s request.
After the events on Arabasta, a bounty was placed on Zoro’s head for the first time. For taking out the 100 bounty hunters in Whisky Peak and defeating Jazz Bonez, he received a bounty of 60,000,000 berry.
Jaya and Skypiea
The journey of the Straw Hat Pirates led them further to Jaya. They had learned about the existence of the Sky Islands and were looking for a way to get to heaven there. In Mocktown, they had a confrontation with Bellamy, who thought Luffy and Zoro were dreamers and laughed at them. Luffy and Zoro let themselves be beaten up by Bellamy’s gang because they didn’t think it was worth fighting them. On the other side of Jaya Island, they met Maron Cricket. The latter, along with his friends Masira and Shoujou, as well as their gangs, helped the Straw Hat Pirates reach Skypiea with the help of the Knock-Up Stream. However, the gang narrowly escaped an attack by Blackbeard and his gang before reaching Heaven.
In Heaven, the pirates got caught in the middle of a war between the Shandia and the tyrannical god Enel over the Upper Yard. Zoro had to fight the Shandia warrior Braham, who did not want the pirates to interfere in the affairs of the celestials, but against whom he had no chance with melee attacks. So he developed a new technique and used 36 sense phoenix for the first time to defeat Braham. Later he had to defeat the strongest of Enel’s priests, Aum, before facing Enel together with Robin, Gan Fall and Wyper. However, they were all defeated. Only Luffy, thanks to his Devil Fruit, managed to defeat the Logian user. With a huge amount of gold in tow, the pirates made their way back to the Sea of Blue.
Long Ring Long Land
Arriving back in the Blue Sea, they landed on Long Ring Long Land. There they met the hermit Tonjit. Shortly after, they were challenged to the Davy Back Fight by the pirate Foxy. The Straw Hats lost the Donut Race, the first round, to the Foxy Pirates, as Foxy used his Devil Fruit to hinder the Straw Hats.
In the second round, Zoro had to compete with Sanji in a knockout wrestling match against Hamburger, Pickles and Big Pan. They managed, with effort and good teamwork, to win this round, despite the unfair play of the opponent, laying the foundation for the overall victory of the Straw Hat Pirates over the Foxy Pirates, which Luffy won in the final match against Foxy. By the rules of the game, Luffy had the right to disband the Foxy Pirates.
Before the gang left Long Ring Long Land again, they encountered Navy Admiral Kuzan. However, he was not hostile to the gang and helped them get the hermit Tonjit off the island by freezing the sea, creating a path to the next island. After Tonjit was gone, the admiral’s opinion changed, and he decided to go after Robin after all. Zoro, Sanji and Luffy tried to protect Robin, but didn’t stand a chance against the admiral. Aokiji let the gang, which was so committed to Robin, move on with her, but prophesied the gang only misfortune, which they would have with Robin.
Water 7
In search of a shipwright and a shipyard to overhaul the Going Merry, they stopped at Shift station, where they met Grandma Kokoro, Chimney and Gonbe. They heard about the shipbuilder’s island of Water 7 and immediately set out.
Once in Water 7, Zoro was put in charge of guarding the Going Merry while the other pirates searched for a shipyard. After a while, Zoro was attacked by the Franky Family, who were after Zoro’s bounty and the ship, but they posed no problem for the swordsman. While he continued to watch over the ship, the shipbuilder Ecki from the Galley-La came by to look at the Going Merry.
He gave Zoro the bad news that the Going Merry was beyond saving. After Usopp was beaten up by the Franky Family, who had stolen much of the Skypiea treasure from him, Zoro, along with Luffy, Sanji and Chopper, attacked the Franky Family headquarters and reduced it to rubble to avenge Usopp. After the tragedy with Luffy and Usopp, the Straw Hat Pirates moved to a hotel.
But already there were new problems: Robin had disappeared, Franky wanted revenge for his gang and the mayor and boss of the Galley-La Iceberg was attacked and the Straw Hat Pirates was suspected of having committed the assassination. They got to the bottom of a conspiracy of the world government, which blackmailed Robin to get the secret of the Ancient Weapon Pluton.
The organization that carried out this mission on behalf of the World Government was the CP 9, which included Ecki, Rob Lucci and Kalifa, who had infiltrated the Galley-La to get the secret blueprints of the Pluton, but which were in Franky’s possession. At the headquarters, the battle against the CP 9 took place, in which Zoro, Luffy, Paulie, Tilestone and Peepley Lulu were easily defeated by the agents.
Enies Lobby
The CP 9 agents, along with Franky and Usopp, took Robin to Enie’s lobby on the Puffing Tom sea train, on which Sanji was also hiding. Zoro, along with the rest of the Straw Hat Pirates, the boys from the Galley-La, and the Franky Family, traveled behind on the Rocketman to rescue their friend Robin and the others. In the process, he helped Luffy get the sea train through Aqua Laguna in one piece. On the way, Captain T-Bone confronted them and was killed by Zoro.
When they reached Enie’s lobby, they stormed the court island. In the Justice Tower, the Straw Hat Pirates fought the CP 9, and Zoro ran into Ecki again. After Zoro was chained together with Usopp (a.k.a. Sogeking) by a mishap, he also had to stand up to Jabra for a short time. After they got away from each other again and Sanji took over the fight against Jabra, Zoro faced Ecki again and managed to defeat him, after a long and hard fight. After the Straw Hat Pirates managed to hold their own against the CP 9, they still had to face off against the Marine, who made the Buster Call on Enie’s lobby.
In the process, Zoro was attacked by Marine Captain Shuu, who used his Devil Fruit to destroy Zoro’s Yubashili. The Straw Hat Pirates managed to escape thanks to the Going Merry and made their last voyage on the ship before saying goodbye.In Water 7, Eisberg, Paulie, Tilestone, Peepley Lulu and Franky built the Straw Hat Pirates a new ship, the Thousand Sunny. They also all got new wanted posters, with Zoro’s bounty doubled to 120,000,000 berries. Zoro greatly mourned the loss of his Yubashili and decided to get a new sword as soon as possible.
In Water 7 they also encountered Vice Admiral Garp, Luffy’s grandfather, as well as Koby and Helmeppo, who immediately attacked Zoro but didn’t stand a chance. After Franky joined the gang, they fled Water 7 before Garp. Usopp meanwhile wanted to rejoin the gang, however he wanted Luffy to ask him. Zoro, however, insisted that Luffy let this remain, because otherwise his authority as captain would be questioned. At the last second, Usopp also came to his senses and rejoined the gang, which now set course for Fish Man Island.
Thriller Bark
On the way to Fish-Man Island, the Thousand Sunny sailed into the Mysterious Triangle. There they met the skeleton Brook, who told his story to the gang. Brook’s shadow was stolen by Gecko Moria, one of the Seven Samurai. They ended up on the Thriller Bark, Moria’s ship, where the samurai also stole the shadows from Zoro, Luffy and Sanji.
The Straw Hat Pirates tried everything to get their shadows back. In the process, Zoro came across Samurai Ryuma, who was carrying Brook’s shadow and had just defeated the skeleton. Zoro took over the fight against the zombie. After a fierce battle, Zoro emerged victorious and took Ryuma’s sword, the King’s Sword Shuusui, giving him three swords again. The Straw Hat Pirates, without Luffy because he was chasing Moria, now had to fight together with Brook against the special zombie Oz.
They were able to give the zombie a strong fight, and Zoro’s new sword was also used, but they were only able to finally defeat him after Luffy had weakened him in his Nightmare form.After Luffy had also defeated Gecko Moria and they had their shadows back, Bartholomew Kuma, another of the Seven Samurai, suddenly appeared to eliminate all witnesses to Moria’s defeat. Luffy didn’t notice anything, as he was far too weakened, so it was up to Zoro to fight the samurai.
Zoro even managed to wound Bear and find out his secret, but in his weakened state he had no chance. Bear wanted Luffy’s head, but Zoro and Sanji, the only ones who had survived Bear’s Ursus Shock, each offered themselves in return for Luffy. But Zoro knocked out Sanji and now faced Bear. Bear sucked all the pain out of Luffy and transferred it to Zoro.
Bear then left the Thriller Bark thinking he had finished off the swordsman. But Zoro survived the extreme ordeal and, when Sanji asked him about it, he replied that nothing had happened when he found him on the edge of the forest, covered in blood. Before the Straw Hat Pirates, with Brook as their new nakama, left Thriller Bark, Zoro paid his last respects to his old sword Yubashili. The gang then continued their journey to Fish Man Island.
Redline and Sabaody Archipelago
After his defeat by Bartholomew Kuma, Zoro had realized that he still had to become much stronger. So he used the trip to the next island intensively for a hard training. After arriving at Redline, the gang met the mermaid Camie and the starfish Pappag, who were friends with the fish-man Hatchan, an old enemy of the Straw Hat gang, who was being held by the Tobiuo Riders and their leader Duval at their base. The Straw Hats decided to help Camie anyway.
They fought against the Tobiuo Riders at their base. They also made friends with Hatchan after their victory and also with Duval and his men. Even Zoro, whose opponent was Hatchan, and Nami, whose village was besieged by the Arlong Pirates, forgave the Octopus Fishmen.Together they set out for the Sabaody Archipelago to have the Thousand Sunny coate, which was necessary to get to Fishmen Island. On the Sabaody Archipelago, Zoro, together with Luffy, belonged to the 11 Supernovae. Eleven pirates with a bounty of over 100,000,000 berries, which were all in the mangrove forest at the same time.
Zoro set out on his own after their arrival. On his way, he came across the world aristocrat Saint Charlos. Zoro, who did not know the aristocrat, asked him if he was lost. The World Aristocrat then drew his gun and shot at Zoro, who dodged the bullet and tried to finish Charlos off, but Jewelry Bonney, one of the Supernovae, jumped in and knocked Zoro over. She played a scene for Charlos, pretending to be Zoro’s sister and mourning his death.
Charlos thought he had shot Zoro and moved away. Zoro then had to listen to a telling off from Bonney, while other Supernovae wondered how crazy or brave one could be. On his further walk he met some more bounty hunters, but they were no problem for the pirate. He was later collected by Luffy, who took him to the auction house, where Camie, who had been recaptured in the meantime, was to be auctioned off. In the auction house, after Luffy knocked out Saint Charlos, who shot Hatchan, there was a fight against the guards. As a result, a naval admiral was summoned. After Silvers Rayleigh appeared, the Straw Hat Pirates prepares to escape as the auction house was surrounded by the Navy. Luffy, along with Eustass Kid and Trafalgar Law, fought against the Navy. Zoro, the rest of the Straw Hat Pirates, Silver’s Rayleigh, and the Heart and Kid Pirates joined them shortly after and supported their captains. The Straw Hat Pirates fled with Silvers Rayleigh to Shakuyaku. There he, the vice of Gol D. Roger, told them his story. He also decided to coate the ship to the gang, which would take three days.
The gang set off again, but encountered a Pacifista, PX-4.A fight ensued, which the gang won with combined forces. Zoro’s sufferings from his fight against Bartholomew Kuma had come back in this fight. When Sentomaru appeared together with PX-1, the gang had to flee in different directions. Zoro fled together with Usopp and Brook, but Admiral Kizaru stood in their way, who wanted to finish off the extremely weakened Zoro. At the last second Rayleigh jumped in and saved the pirate. Now PX-1 was set on Zoro. His friends fled with him, but suddenly the real Bartholomew Kuma appeared, who was surprised that Zoro was still alive. He asked Zoro where he would like to go and made him disappear before the eyes of all those gathered.
Kuraigana
Zoro flew through the sky for three days and nights after Bartholomew Kuma beamed him away. Finally, he landed on the island of Kuraigana. It was the same island on which Perona had landed. They were in the ruins of the former Shickeahru kingdom. Zoro, who was almost dead from the battles against Kizaru and the Pacifista, landed near Perona’s castle, who recognized him as one of the Straw Hat Pirates. She took him to her castle and doctored the pirate, who soon came to consciousness.
After he woke up, he asked Perona where he was. He remembered Bartholomew Kuma back and started screaming loudly. When he calmed down again, he asked Perona for his swords.
When Zoro was better again, he also got his swords back from Perona. Together they explored the ruins of Shickeahru. In the process, Zoro found a gigantic tombstone. He also wondered in the meantime what had become of his friends, since he could have used their help.
Shortly after, the shadow of a massive swordsman approached the two. The attacker was a Humandrill. These intelligent primates learned to fight from the former population of Kuraigana.
After the Battle of Marine Ford, the Lord of Kuraigana, Mihawk “Hawkeye” Dracule, came back to his island. He took Perona and Zoro to his castle. Hawkeye told Zoro about the Great Event and enlightened the swordsman about Luffy’s status. Zoro was aware that he didn’t stand a chance against the samurai yet and decided to leave to help his captain. Hawkeye gave him a boat and Zoro set off. However, the Humandrills attacked Zoro again, who had quite a bit of trouble with the creatures. Hawkeye reappeared and enlightened Zoro about the primates. He said that they were too strong for Zoro anyway and that he should come back to the castle with them.
But Zoro refused and wanted to continue fighting the Humandrills. Some time later, Perona showed Zoro the article about Rayleigh’s, Jinbe’s, and Luffy’s attack on Marine Ford, and he realized that Luffy was trying to send a message to his friends, but he wasn’t immediately aware of what it meant. After Zoro understood Luffy’s message that they would not meet again for another two years, he went back to the castle, heavily stricken, to ask Falcon’s Eye to become his teacher.
At first, Dracule Mihawk laughed at Zoro, saying that he was Zoro’s greatest rival and that Zoro could not even defeat the Humandrills, but when the pirate hunter told him that he had defeated all the primates and would throw his pride overboard for Luffy, Dracule Mihawk was visibly impressed by Zoro and accepted his request. Perona tended to Zoro’s wounds, and after his recovery, Zoro began two years of training with the best swordsman in the world.
Sabaody Archipelago – The Reunion
After two years of training with Hawkeye, Zoro left Kuraigana together with Perona. The Ghost Princess brought the swordsman back to Sabaody Archipelago. Zoro was the first member of the Straw Hat Pirates to arrive at their meeting place. He first went to Shacky’s bar and then wandered aimlessly around the archipelago. Bored, Zoro wanted to go fishing and got an offer from an old man to go on his boat to fish with him later.
Zoro, however, mistook the boat and instead went on a gigantic pirate galleon, on which he took a nap. Just as the galleon was about to leave for Fish Man Island and go on a dive, Zoro woke up. Realizing that he had landed on the wrong ship, Zoro cut the huge galleon widthwise with a single sword stroke, causing it to resurface. Among the astonished crowd on the shore was Sanji.
The two quarrelsome men immediately clashed again, because Zoro preferred to fish. Later they got a call from Franky via a Den-den Mushi that the navy was forming up on the archipelago. On their way to the Sunny, the two pirates got caught up in the skirmish between the Navy and the Fake Straw Hats on Grove 46. When Zoro and Sanji saw Luffy, who had just defeated the Pacifista PX-5 in front of Sentomaru’s eyes with only one blow, they wanted to go to him, but PX-7 stood in their way, which was devastated by the two pirates with only one blow each. Luffy was overjoyed to see his friends again.
Together, the friends made their way to the Thousand Sunny. Silvers Rayleigh and Perona helped them get rid of the marine and Chopper gathered them up and took them on a giant bird to the ship, where now the whole gang was reunited. With the help of Boa Hancock and the Kuja pirate gang, the Straw Hat Pirates was able to go on a dive towards Fish Man Island with the Rayleigh-coated Thousand Sunny without any further problems.
The fish man island
There were a few obstacles in front of the gang, but they were able to overcome them unharmed. Upon entering Fish-Man Island, however, they were separated again, leaving Zoro to wander around Fish-Man Island alone. Zoro was found on the way by Neptune’s army and taken to the Ryuuguu Palace, where he was told to wait for his comrades. When word got out that Madame Shyarly, the fortune teller, saw in a vision how Luffy would destroy Fish Man Island, Zoro was locked in the dungeon. However, he was able to free himself and help Nami, Usopp and Brook fight Neptune’s army.
When the army was defeated and Neptune and his ministers were put in chains by the Straw Hats, Hody Jones infiltrated the palace to overthrow Neptune. When he saw what had already happened in the palace, he decided to get rid of the Straw Hats and flooded the room where Zoro, Nami, Usopp, and Brook were. Zoro briefly fought the fish man underwater, but had no chance after he took energy steroids and also ran out of air. Since Nami was able to escape, only the three male Straw Hats were eventually captured.
After Hody revealed his plan to the entire island, he told the Straw Hat Pirates to drown their three captured comrades in a cage. However, with Pappag’s help, they escaped and fought with the other Straw Hats and Jinbe at Gyoncorde Plaza against the New Fishmen Gang. Zoro fought Hyouzou and had an easy time with him, despite the energy steroids.
Eventually, a big celebration was organized for the Straw Hats because they had saved the island. However, Caribou now tried to kidnap Shirahoshi, the mermaid princess, but was stopped by Luffy, Zoro and Sanji. When Nami learned that he had also stolen all the treasures, the three had to find him again to get the gold. In the process, they encountered Baron Tamago and Pekoms, two members of the pirate empress Big Mom. The latter threatened to destroy Fish Man Island because they could no longer deliver candy to her. Luffy then declared that the island would be under his protection from now on and that he would fight with Big Mom. Eventually, the gang left Fishmen Island and finally made their way to the New World.
Punk Hazard
Arriving in the New World, the Straw Hat Pirates sailed to Punk Hazard on a distress call via their Den-den Mushi. Luffy, Zoro, Usopp and Robin went to the burning island to see what was going on. The entire island seemed to be on fire and uninhabited until suddenly a dragon blocked their path. Luffy and Zoro managed to defeat the dragon, which had a human lower body hanging from it. They took the lower body with them. Continuing on their way, they ended up at a lake, on the other side of which was a complete ice landscape. The group got a call from Brook, who informed them that the rest of the gang had been kidnapped. The skeleton joined the group after they were attacked by some centaurs. Through Brook’s help, the four Straw Hats were able to escape ashore. After the fight, they used the centaur boss as a mount and got to Vegapunk’s old research lab, where they met Trafalgar Law and the defeated Smoker. Law sent Luffy to join his friends behind the lab. After the Straw Hats exchanged all the information they could gather about the island, Sanji noticed that the samurai was on a quest to recover his torso. Together with Brook and Zoro, he made his way to him.
After a brief incident with the Yeti Cool Brothers, the group got Kinemon’s last missing body part. Meanwhile, on the burning side, the toxic slime Smiley had appeared, threatening the pirates and the samurai. After Smiley died and was now moving in the form of a deadly gas, the four found a kite to fly away with. In the process, they ran into Nami, Usopp and Brownbeard. They quickly ran to Caesar’s lab, the only safe place on the island. Already in the lab were the rest of the Straw Hat Pirates, Law, Smoker, Tashigi and the G-5 soldiers. Zoro, Brook and Kinemon fought the Navy to advance further. Together with Nami, Robin and the joined Chopper, Zoro then fought Mone until Tashigi joined and he was victorious together with her. In the end, they all escaped from the lab together and met Franky, who was fighting Buffalo and Baby 5. Together with Usopp and Nami, the two were defeated and Caesar Clown was captured.
Dressrosa
After Zoro was told that the Straw Hat Pirates was forming an alliance with Trafalgar Law to overthrow Emperor Kaidou, the next port of call was Dress Rosa. There, Luffy, Zoro, Sanji, Franky and Kinemon were to destroy the SAD factory to stop Smile production. However, in a casino, Zoro’s sword was stolen and he ran after the thief, causing him to separate from his group. Later it turned out that the sword had been stolen by the dwarf Wicca.
She informed Zoro that the Donquixote Pirates was going to attack the Thousand Sunny, on which Nami, Chopper, Brook and Momonosuke were. Zoro wanted to leave immediately, but first he had to help Wicca get to their commander. Once again on their way to rescue Nami and the others, Zoro and Wicca encountered Sanji and Kinemon.
While the cook went to take care of the Sunny, the others looked for a way into the Corrida Colosseum, where Luffy was participating in a tournament. Together, the Straw Hat Pirates communicated via Den-den Mushi, and the disparate parties clarified the true circumstances on Dress Rosa before their captain gave them broad authority to act.
Zoro vs. Fujitora
Afterwards, Zoro and the others had to witness the bloody end of the confrontation between Doflamingo and Law. Zoro immediately set out to rescue Law, but was stopped by Fujitora, whom he was able to hold at bay for a short time, but was eventually overpowered. After the Navy Admiral and Doflamingo disappeared with Law towards the palace, Zoro, Kinemon and Luffy looked for a way to rescue their alliance partner.
Arriving at the palace, they met Viola, who turned out to be the daughter of the former royal family and offered them assistance to get into the palace. Inside, they were confronted by Pica, who made it difficult for them to advance with his devilish powers. Zoro decided to engage the commander so that Luffy and Viola could continue their journey. When the effect of Sugar’s devil powers wore off and the toys were transformed back to their original form, Pica abruptly withdrew from the fight.
Zoro meets Pica
After Flamingo created the Birdcage and Pica transformed the island, an unofficial bounty of 200 million was placed on Zoro’s head, to be paid to whoever could bring the Samurai of the Seas his head. Together with Zoro and Law, Luffy set out once again on the hunt for the string-puller behind the deadly game. On their way, they faced numerous opponents – including Fujitora and Pica again. The latter swirled the battlefield in his massive golem form because of the laughter at his high-pitched voice, so Zoro and the others were united with the other participants of the Coliseum willing to fight.
The battlefield partially shifted to Pica’s massive body, whose head was destroyed by an attack from Luffy, giving Zoro the opportunity to glimpse the real body inside the golem. With a huge sword, the commander attacked Luffy, but this was parried by Zoro and thus the fight between Zoro and Pica finally started. The fight turned out relatively smoothly for Zoro, so that he was also able to protect Robin, Rebecca and Bartolomeo, who arrived on the plateau, from an attack by the golem, to then explain to Pica that he would one day become the best swordsman in the world.
Meanwhile, the Golem’s all-out attacks pushed Zoro back, who was able to use his devilish powers to repeatedly retreat from the Straw Hat Pirates swordsman. Pica revived the abandoned giant stone statue to kill Riku as the former rightful king of Dress Rosa and symbol of peace.
Zoro defeats Pica’s true form
Zoro, who in the meantime had made up his mind to finally defeat Pica, asked Orlumbus and Elizabello II for help to reach the golem in time. Orlumbus hurled the swordsman through the air, who covered his swords with hardening and declared that there was nothing in this world that he could not cut. He cut the monstrous golem into smaller and smaller pieces, so that Pica was finally forced to leave his hiding place with his armor haki and Hardening activated. Zoro still managed to defeat Pica effortlessly before Elizabello destroyed the falling debris of the golem with his King Punch. Cheering, he was felt by Kinemon and Usopp, but Zoro instead looked seriously at the birdcage that could still seal their fate. Together with Kinemon and Kanjuro, he set out for the birdcage to stop it, while Luffy kept Flamingo at bay. They were joined by Fujitora and numerous other fighters from the country. After Luffy’s victory over the Samurai of the Seas, Zoro smiled with satisfaction at his captain’s victory.
While recovering from their exertions in Kyros’ old hut, Zoro and the others ran into Sabo, who presented the swordsman with a Vivre Card before he left. When they learned that the Navy had moved to arrest them after all, they all fled to the coast, though Luffy was briefly delayed by Fujitora. They were able to escape onto Orlumbus’ ship, the Yonta Maria, where he was joined by the several allies from the battles against the Donquixote gang, who gathered to swear their allegiance and loyalty to the Straw Hat Pirates. Despite Luffy’s objections, the Straw Hat Grand Fleet formed that day and together they celebrated their victory over Flamingo. They parted ways with their new friends and sailed to Zou on Bartolomeo’s ship to meet up with the others. Through Bartolomeo, Zoro also learned that his bounty had increased to 320 million.
Zou
After a week and a dangerous crossing with the Bartolomeo pirate gang, they finally reached Zou. After saying goodbye to their new allies, they climbed Zunesha’s leg with the help of a created dragon. They were separated from the two samurai, but they would meet up with them later on the elephant’s back, and continued their journey. Once at the top, they explored the destroyed city and Zoro was attacked by Carrot, a representative of the Minks. They likewise encountered Wanda, who was able to immediately defuse the conflict. After a brief separation of Wanda and Luffy, they all reached a camp together and reunited with the overjoyed Nami and Chopper. Brook also joined them and they learned about the upsetting events of the other Straw Hat group, the fight against Big Mom, the battle between Jack and the Minks, and Sanji’s disappearance before paying a visit to the two rulers of the island, Inuarashi and Nekomamushi.
Zoro, to Nami’s and Chopper’s annoyance, reacted very indifferently and partly angrily-disparagingly to Sanji’s decision to leave the group for the time being and accept Big Mom’s invitation, since in his view their path had been directed toward Kaidou since Punk Hazard and they couldn’t afford an interlude with the Big Mom pirate gang now. Nevertheless, Luffy decided to find their friend and rescue him from his mess. The latter also interpreted Zoro’s behavior as concern for Sanji, which angered the swordsman.
The Straw Hat Pirates Discovers The Road Poneglyph
The next morning, the samurai also reached Zou. To their amazement, no conflict broke out between the samurai and the Minks, as they now all learned the real story behind Momonosuke and his true father, Kozuki Oden, before they all set off to visit another samurai, Raizo, who was hiding here from Kaidou’s henchmen. Not only did they meet him there, but Robin also discovered a special red Poneglyph and Zoro finally understood the reason why Flamingo and Kaidou were targeting the samurai, since Oden was part of Gol D. Roger’s crew and on Laugh Tale. In this way, the alliance between the Straw Hat Pirates and the Heart Pirates also expanded to include the Minks and the Samurai, as together they wanted to save Wano Country from the clutches of the Shogun and Kaidou. After a brief interlude with Jack, the group split up, with Zoro joining Kinemon, Robin, Franky, Usopp and Law to already travel to Wano Country, while Luffy and the others wanted to save Sanji.
Wano Country
Zoro interprets seppuku in his own way
The group had successfully made it to Wano Country, where they mingled with the people in disguise. However, Zoro was accused of a nighttime murder and ordered to commit seppuku, a type of ritual suicide, with Shuusui also taken from him. When Zoro started, he smelled blood on the official, so he decided to cut the official and the building behind with the small knife. This turned him into a criminal and he was on the run. While searching for edibles, he happened to meet Luffy, who was on his way to a hospital with O-Tama. There, Basil Hawkins suddenly stood in their way. However, the fight was interrupted and they went to Okobore for treatment of Tama. The teahouse girl O-Kiku took care of his wounds there, but shortly after Tama was kidnapped by Beasts Pirates pirates and the pursuit led them to Bakura, where they met the sumo wrestler Urashima. In the process, they caused a ruckus, attracting the attention of headliner Holdem.
Another headliner, Speed, also arrived in Bakura, with a whole shipload of food in tow. With this, they managed to escape back to Okobore, where they also ran into Law again. The latter eventually led them to Oden Castle, where everyone gathered again, only Zoro stayed away, having gotten lost. Zoro eventually met Tonoyasu, who led him to Ebisu, however his Shuusui was stolen by Gyukimaru, which he followed to Ringo. However, during their fight, a young woman appeared with a girl, followed by the hitman Kamazo. Zoro faced this as well and managed to win, but suffered a wound and was tended to by the woman, Komurasaki, who later revealed herself to be Kozuki Hiyori.
Shortly after, Brook appeared and told them that Tonoyasu alias Shimotsuki Yasuie, the man Zoro encountered earlier, was to be executed. Immediately they ran to the place of execution. Once there, they witnessed the man’s death and Zoro confronted Shogun Kurozumi Orochi, who also wanted to kill Tonoyasu’s daughter. To Zoro’s surprise, Sanji also appeared. Zoro then took Hiyori to safety and went with her to Ringo to retrieve his Shuusui. In the process, they also met Kawamatsu and received many more swords for battle in addition to the Shuusui. Hiyori in turn asked Zoro to trade her the Shuusui in exchange for the Enma, a powerful sword that once belonged to her father. Zoro agreed, and in the village of Amigasa he later met with some allies to discuss the situation. Afterwards, Zoro familiarized himself with his new sword, which released enormous powers, but also took away his haki.
Onigashima
Zoro confronts Apoo
On the day of the Fire Festival, the Straw Hats and the Heart and Kid Pirate gangs joined Kinemon’s group on the open sea, ready to fight. After Jinbe joined them, they all went to Onigashima. Once there, Luffy stormed ahead, but Zoro suspected that Luffy would certainly not remain undiscovered for long and went after him. The fears soon proved true and Luffy was discovered, but Zoro did not make things better and went directly on the offensive against the Beasts Pirates pirates with his captain.
Apoo also became aware of the two Straw Hats. Although they initially managed to escape with Kid and Killer, Zoro was separated from the rest in the process. When he met Luffy again, he was about to go up to the roof to join Kaidou, so Zoro wanted to join him, but they were prevented from doing so by King and Queen. Back on the ground, the entire Straw Hat gang gathered at the main stage to make another advance. While the samurai around Kinemon on the dome were already engrossed in battle with Kaidou, Zoro was struggling with Queen’s ice demon virus.
However, Zoro quickly managed to grab the antidote from Apoo and pass it on to Chopper, who then worked to mass produce the antidote. With Marco’s help, they finally went to Kaidou. There Law, Kid, Killer and Luffy joined them, with Big Mom facing them alongside Kaidou. A fight ensued, and together the Supernovae were able to counter the two emperors. When the two emperors went in for a combo attack, it was finally Zoro who was able to stop it and protect the rest as a result. But against both emperors united, they hardly had a chance, so they separated them.
Kid and Killer took over Big Mom, while Law, Zoro and Luffy were supposed to face Kaidou, but Luffy was unconscious. Zoro then managed to actually hurt Kaidou, which is why the Emperor suspected that Zoro was using King Shaki, but Zoro was unaware of this. Kaidou countered, however, and knocked Law and Zoro unconscious, whereupon Luffy rose again and took over the fight. Law then teleported himself and Zoro off the battlefield. They landed directly in Sanji’s arms, who gave Zoro emergency treatment and took him to Chopper. With the help of Miyagi and Tristan, Chopper managed to get Zoro back on his feet. Freed from his bandages, Zoro immediately faced the main representatives King and Queen together with Sanji.
Miscellaneous
Early concept drawing of straw hat gang
With sunglasses
Concept drawing of Zoro as part of the buggy gang
- Zoro’s name “Roronoa” (or Roronoa in the German version) derives from the French pirate Jean-David Nau (ca. 1635-1667), better known under his pseudonym François l’Ollonais. (For those who do not know: in Japanese, the R similar to our L pronounced) and “Zoro” recalls the famous swordsman from the novels of Johnston McCulley. Origin of the naming
- Zoro appeared in Oda’s concept drawings for the Straw Hat Pirates two years before the series began. These were published in One Piece Green and One Piece Magazine Vol.10. In the latter magazine, Zoro can also be seen wearing sunglasses in another sketch.
- Oda had once said in an interview that he originally wanted Zoro to act as Buggy’s bodyguard (he also did some sketches for this especially for the final version, which were shown in SBS Volume 3).
- According to Oda, if Zoro were an animal, it would remind him of a shark.
- His name “Zoro” is further related to his birthday, 11.11. Since the birthday is the same no matter which way it is read, this is a Palindrome. The Japanese word for palindrome is “zorome” or short: Zoro.
- Vivi always called Zoro “Mr. Bushido” (see Bushido). This epithet has now become established.
- Together with Usopp, Zoro is the only one from Luffy’s gang who has met both Ace and Sabo.
- On the color spread of Chapter 598 printed in Weekly Shōnen Jump, Zoro’s scar is incorrectly on his right eye instead of his left. This error has been corrected for the Tankōbon version.
- In chapter 801, Bartolomeo shows the autographs of the Straw Hat Pirates. Zoro has signed simply with the character for “sword” (jap. 刀, katana).
- One Piece was part of Nissin Foods‘ advertising campaign called Hungry Days, which was to promote Cup Noodles. The ad features the Straw Hat Pirates and many other characters from the One Piece universe in a high school setting. The characters were created by the mangaka Eisaku Kubonouchi designed
- In the episode “Treehouse of Horror XXV” (engl. title: “Hell, Death and Ghosts”, season 26, episode 4) from the Simpsons among other things, various characters from manga and anime are shown. Homer appears as Zoro.
- For One Piece Magazine Vol.9, mangaka Kohei Horikoshi (author of My Hero Academia) made a drawing of Zoro.
- On January 22, 2022, at Otsu Central Park in Ōto Kumamoto, a bronze statue of Zoro was erected as part of the One Piece Kumamoto Revival Project. Eiichiro Oda specially contributed a colorful drawing he created himself. In addition, the statue was used as a Pokéstop for the game Pokémon Go set up.
 Zoro’s flag(top old, bottom new) |  The Color Spread with Zoro’s scar on the wrong eye |  Zoro drawn by Kohei Horikoshi |  Zoro’s autograph for Bartolomeo |
 Zoro’s appearance in the Hungry Days commercials |  Homer as Roronoa Zoro |  Zoro’s bronze statue in Ōzu, Kumamoto |
Information from the SBS
- Oda reminds Zoro, if he were an animal, of a shark. (SBS Volume 20)
- Zoro’s favorite island and season is autumn on an autumn island. (SBS Volume 38)
- Zoro smells like iron according to Chopper. (SBS Volume 40)
- Zoro’s assigned color is green. (SBS Volume 40)
- Zoro’s assigned number is 02. (SBS Volume 40)
- His favorite dishes are white rice, meat from manatees and anything you can drink beer with. (SBS Volume 45) He likes chocolate the least because it is too sweet. (SBS Volume 73)
- If the Straw Hat Pirates were a family, Zoro would be the first son. (SBS Volume 48)
